This is the Building/club I go to. Or WENT to....
Silver Street residents must move
City of Waterville condemns two floors of building, which houses Midnight Blues Club
By Amy Calder acalder@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer
WATERVILLE -- Leaking ceilings. A washing machine that dumps water out a window and onto the ground. No smoke detectors. Windows that don't close properly.
click image to enlarge
NOWHERE TO GO: Brenda Hardy is shown in her apartment at 2 Silver St. in Waterville on Monday. Hardy said her landlord, Paul Morency, told her that she had to move out by midnight Monday or the police would throw her out.
Staff photo by David Leaming
Select images available for purchase in the
Maine Today Photo Store
Those are some of the violations city and state officials found recently in some living quarters on the second and third floors of a building at the corner of Silver and Main streets.
The city condemned those floors as unfit and unsafe for human occupancy.
The building, which houses Midnight Blues Club on the first floor, was foreclosed on and will be sold at a public auction Thursday and now, several tenants say they have nowhere to go.
Tenant Brenda Hardy, said her landlord, Paul Morency, told her Monday that she had to move out by midnight Monday or the police would throw her out.
"I have to find somewhere to live," a tearful Hardy, 49, said Monday. "I don't know what to do."
Angie Hanson, 24, said she learned from other tenants late Monday afternoon that she and her fiance, Travis Corson, and her 5-year-old son have to leave.
Contacted Monday, City Manager Michael Roy said the tenants will not be forced to leave by midnight Monday, but that Morency was responsible for telling them the floors were being condemned and helping them to find other housing.
"As far as I'm concerned, people can be given time to find a place, but that doesn't mean weeks," Roy said, "because we're very, very concerned about the safety of the people up there."
The city's code enforcement officer, Garth Collins, as well as local fire officials and Tim Fuller, a fire inspector with the state Fire Marshal's Office, inspected the building Jan. 14.
Collins was out of his office Monday and unavailable for comment, but he sent a letter from the city to Morency last week listing violations at the 2 Silver St. building. It says the two floors will be posted as condemned and must be vacated or tenants will be removed by police and charged with violating the order.
The state Fire Marshal's Office classified the second and third floors as a hotel due to the number of rooms and occupancy load, but Morency does not have proper state permits for a hotel, according to the letter.
Three apartments on the Main Street side also are not in compliance:
"They are all missing smoke detectors and carbon monoxide testers and working GFCI outlets in the bathrooms and kitchens," the letter says. "The third floor unit, apartment No. 4, has water leaks from the roof, windows that don't close properly and a broken entrance door without a door knob. The second floor unit, apartment 3, is draining the washing machine out the window and onto the ground, which is in violation of state and city ordinances."
Another apartment's tub is draining poorly and has no ventilation.
"At some point, we're going to check to make sure people are not there anymore," Roy said Monday. "And we'll work with people to make sure they have places to live, but he (Morency) should have started this long ago."
Roy said the city decided to do an inspection of the building because some tenants receive housing vouchers from the city. City Health and Welfare Department officials didn't realize those rooms had been built without permits -- and there are enough rooms to qualify it as a hotel, Roy said.
The last owner of the building, according to city assessing records, was Tucson, Inc. According to records at the state Bureau of Corporations, the two shareholders in Tucson, Inc., are Craig and Scott Morency.
Paul Morency, owner of Midnight Blues Club, said Monday that they are his sons, but they do not have anything to do with the building. Paul Morency declined to comment on the building's current status.
"It's just unfortunate, and tenants made waves," he said.
Both he and Roy confirmed, however, that the first floor of the building where Midnight Blues is located, is not being condemned.
Paul Morency said it is up to whomever buys the building at auction Thursday to allow him to continue leasing it for the bar and restaurant.
Hardy said she receives a housing voucher from the city, which pays $90 a week for her rent. She said a city official told her the city can no longer give her a voucher because the building is in violation of city codes.
Hardy said she is trying to get disability because she has bad legs and a deteriorating hip.
She said Paul Morency told her he did not know that he was supposed to tell tenants to leave -- that he believed the city was to do that and that is why he gave them such short notice on Monday.
Tenants were told in December that the building would be sold, but that they could stay there, she said.
Roy said Morency was responsible for notifying tenants.
"He's known this for a few days and yes, people are supposed to be out of there," Roy said. "It's his responsibility to tell them they have to leave because we've told him he can no longer rent the rooms out. Our problem is not with the tenants -- the problem is with him."
http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/silver-streetresidentsmust-move_2011-01-24.html
Silver Street residents must move
City of Waterville condemns two floors of building, which houses Midnight Blues Club
By Amy Calder acalder@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer
WATERVILLE -- Leaking ceilings. A washing machine that dumps water out a window and onto the ground. No smoke detectors. Windows that don't close properly.
click image to enlarge
NOWHERE TO GO: Brenda Hardy is shown in her apartment at 2 Silver St. in Waterville on Monday. Hardy said her landlord, Paul Morency, told her that she had to move out by midnight Monday or the police would throw her out.
Staff photo by David Leaming
Select images available for purchase in the
Maine Today Photo Store
Those are some of the violations city and state officials found recently in some living quarters on the second and third floors of a building at the corner of Silver and Main streets.
The city condemned those floors as unfit and unsafe for human occupancy.
The building, which houses Midnight Blues Club on the first floor, was foreclosed on and will be sold at a public auction Thursday and now, several tenants say they have nowhere to go.
Tenant Brenda Hardy, said her landlord, Paul Morency, told her Monday that she had to move out by midnight Monday or the police would throw her out.
"I have to find somewhere to live," a tearful Hardy, 49, said Monday. "I don't know what to do."
Angie Hanson, 24, said she learned from other tenants late Monday afternoon that she and her fiance, Travis Corson, and her 5-year-old son have to leave.
Contacted Monday, City Manager Michael Roy said the tenants will not be forced to leave by midnight Monday, but that Morency was responsible for telling them the floors were being condemned and helping them to find other housing.
"As far as I'm concerned, people can be given time to find a place, but that doesn't mean weeks," Roy said, "because we're very, very concerned about the safety of the people up there."
The city's code enforcement officer, Garth Collins, as well as local fire officials and Tim Fuller, a fire inspector with the state Fire Marshal's Office, inspected the building Jan. 14.
Collins was out of his office Monday and unavailable for comment, but he sent a letter from the city to Morency last week listing violations at the 2 Silver St. building. It says the two floors will be posted as condemned and must be vacated or tenants will be removed by police and charged with violating the order.
The state Fire Marshal's Office classified the second and third floors as a hotel due to the number of rooms and occupancy load, but Morency does not have proper state permits for a hotel, according to the letter.
Three apartments on the Main Street side also are not in compliance:
"They are all missing smoke detectors and carbon monoxide testers and working GFCI outlets in the bathrooms and kitchens," the letter says. "The third floor unit, apartment No. 4, has water leaks from the roof, windows that don't close properly and a broken entrance door without a door knob. The second floor unit, apartment 3, is draining the washing machine out the window and onto the ground, which is in violation of state and city ordinances."
Another apartment's tub is draining poorly and has no ventilation.
"At some point, we're going to check to make sure people are not there anymore," Roy said Monday. "And we'll work with people to make sure they have places to live, but he (Morency) should have started this long ago."
Roy said the city decided to do an inspection of the building because some tenants receive housing vouchers from the city. City Health and Welfare Department officials didn't realize those rooms had been built without permits -- and there are enough rooms to qualify it as a hotel, Roy said.
The last owner of the building, according to city assessing records, was Tucson, Inc. According to records at the state Bureau of Corporations, the two shareholders in Tucson, Inc., are Craig and Scott Morency.
Paul Morency, owner of Midnight Blues Club, said Monday that they are his sons, but they do not have anything to do with the building. Paul Morency declined to comment on the building's current status.
"It's just unfortunate, and tenants made waves," he said.
Both he and Roy confirmed, however, that the first floor of the building where Midnight Blues is located, is not being condemned.
Paul Morency said it is up to whomever buys the building at auction Thursday to allow him to continue leasing it for the bar and restaurant.
Hardy said she receives a housing voucher from the city, which pays $90 a week for her rent. She said a city official told her the city can no longer give her a voucher because the building is in violation of city codes.
Hardy said she is trying to get disability because she has bad legs and a deteriorating hip.
She said Paul Morency told her he did not know that he was supposed to tell tenants to leave -- that he believed the city was to do that and that is why he gave them such short notice on Monday.
Tenants were told in December that the building would be sold, but that they could stay there, she said.
Roy said Morency was responsible for notifying tenants.
"He's known this for a few days and yes, people are supposed to be out of there," Roy said. "It's his responsibility to tell them they have to leave because we've told him he can no longer rent the rooms out. Our problem is not with the tenants -- the problem is with him."
http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/silver-streetresidentsmust-move_2011-01-24.html
